


Easily Replaced

by mel_drama



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, F/M, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Long Distance Relationship, Multi, One-Sided Relationship, Unrequited Love, gina is part of the caswell family i don’t make the rules, he’s trying his best not to be, ricky has ADHD, ricky is an ass most of the time, there’s a lot of dating and meeting new people, there’s a lot of waiting for other people too, they are all seniors, they are going to college eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mel_drama/pseuds/mel_drama
Summary: “She’s trapped up in a cycle.Condemned to fall in love with a boy that will never love her back, time and time again.The worst part about it? She knew from the beginning that his heart belonged to someone else and still inserted herself in that mess.”
Relationships: Gina Porter & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Nini Salazar-Roberts/Original Character(s), Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series)/Original Character(s), Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	1. after party

Gina will never forget the first time she saw the two of them together, the emotional pain is so deep that she can feel it on a physical level (heavy chest, closed throat and blurred vision). No one seems phazed when they walk inside Ashlyn’s house holding hands. Gina is glad for her lifelong acting experience, if it wasn’t for the fact that she’s been developing this skill for so long she isn’t sure she could have fooled anyone about how phazed she is. Not even her closest friends noticed, Carlos is too distracted by Seb and Ashlyn is hosting the party, so she didn’t really had time to observe others interactions. If they had asked, thought, she’d have blamed it on the fact that everyone was there when they were dating for the first time, so it’s only a new sight for her. At least, this is what she tells herself: that the reason why she can’t look away from the couple is the fact that she’s never seen this dynamic between them before, and has nothing to do with the endless comparison going on her mind to hers and Ricky’s relationship a few weeks prior.

Gina is sure she knows Ricky. They spent so much time together since Homecoming (in October) that it’s impossible not to. She knows that he doesn’t really like fruits except for strawberries. And that he has been collecting vans shoes even though everyone else says it’s dumb because his feet are still growing. She also knows that halloween makes him sad and a bit anxious especially when it comes to clothing (he refused to elaborate any further). And that he only likes cookies made a certain way (one that she never gets right). She knows that he cries easily (this one might not count because it’s common knowledge). And she knows his love language is physical touch (he never told her, she just picked it up from how he would leave his hand on her knee without even realizing during a conversation, and how he would hold her hand after a high five, or even how he would keep holding her waist after a hug).  
Still, it surprises her to see how intense he’s when it comes to touching Nini.

They can’t keep their hands off each other. Either she is sitting on his lap (his fingers squeezing her hips so tightly that Gina is sure she’ll have marks), or at his side with his arm draped around her shoulders. If they are standing, he’s hugging her from behind, and if she is at the counter, he’s in between her legs, with her hands running through his curls or cupping his cheeks. Another thing she notices is that they are unable to kiss without starting a make out session, and watching it over and over again makes Gina want to gag. 

The whole lovey-dovey act of the couple does, actually. Not that she’ll admit they are the cause. Instead, she blames the sudden urge to throw up on the few too many shots she’s had and the fact that she doesn’t like to see people make out nor people being touchy. It would be a valid excuse, but she doesn’t seem to mind Seb and Carlos kissing passionately a few feet away from her. The same way she didn’t mind when Ricky’s arm was draped around her back or lingering on her waist.

Gina excuses herself from the living room, trying to remember the way to the bathroom from the last time she was there, for the “Friendsgiving”. She feels tears weil up on her eyes, and blames her overly emotional state on the same tequila shots that she claims to have made her nauseous. Gina thinks back to that day, now sitting in the bathroom floor, her back pressed against the bathtub, the cold tile in her hands seemingly foreign as she recalls the warmth of his hand wrapped around her own. 

She remembers how Ricky smiled to her, placing the hat she knitted on the top of his head and laughing because it was bigger than it should be. How happy he looked while introducing them as a “we” and telling Nini about her homemade cupcakes, (he even made a joke about the youtube tutorials she likes to watch from time to time). Gina smiles through the memories, until they inevitably reach the moment that changed everything, and now she can only think of how whatever they had fell apart from then on. The call from her mom and the way she left and shut him out. They hadn’t talked since that fatidical day (back in November, a month ago) and she was to blame on that.

She feels her heart swell with the thought that he never gave up on talking to her . The endless texts that she never read and uncountable number of denied phone calls. Back then it was pointless to try and establish a relationship, even though he seemed really invested on checking up on her and sorting things out, because she would be stuck with her mom in the other end of the country.

She tells herself that maybe that’s why they never became a couple, the simple fact that she was so distant (not only physically but also mentally) and wonders what would have happened if she did answer, he did seem interested in her, so maybe they had a shot. 

Gina knows that is unrealistic to think that Nini is her rebound, that Ricky only went back to her because Gina wasn’t there and Nini was a safe bet and that she only has to live through this for awhile before she can try and work things out with him now that they are both in the same city, but she does it either way.  
She tells herself that she has a shot, that they have a shot until she loses count and then she repeats it a few more times just to be sure that the idea is established clearly, almost engraved in her brain. 

Then she stands up, taking a look in the mirror, her eyes full of hope as she leaves the bathroom. The first thing she sees is enough to end her daydream. They are whispering to each other, lost in their own little world. Any progress she has made on cheering herself up is erased. Ricky loves Nini, and that was the only reason they got back together, no one is a rebound there. They simply are in love, always had been, and probably always would be.  
They are, after all, Ricky and Nini.  
Gina was irrelevant in that equation.


	2. welcome to the family

Ashlyn’s parents and her mom talk at the phone for hours. Gina feels grateful for them, and their caring nature that leads the family to welcome her in their house through christmas break and possibly until the end of high school (they’re sorting things out). She’s also grateful for Ashlyn and EJ’s companies and efforts to distract her from the possibility of actually moving after raising her expectations about staying.

Gina should know better, she’s aware, than to be expectant of good things (such as being in love and staying in a city long enough to establish friendships) . She is too hopeful and, the same way it happened with Ricky a month ago, it’ll happen now. She’ll be let down. It’s not surprising anymore, though it still hurts. The second one is supposedly worse, but it’s the first one that consumes her. She has been moving around the country since she can remember (the last 6 years in a row, and other times with less frequency before that), but she had never before experienced heartbreak (the mere use of the word is enough to make her shiver now).

It’s easier to accept how she feels late at night, lying in the dark guest bedroom alone with her thoughts. Gina will never say it out loud, it would be too much for her to handle without breaking down in sobs. But she knows, deep down, that she feels heartbroken every time he comes to mind, mostly because she can’t avoid linking their memories together to the memory of him and Nini pressed against each other while kissing on the couch. 

The couch that she spent the entire afternoon sat on at Ashlyn’s living room. The same living room where she was praised after winning Carlos’ lame board game and got that disastrous phone call that threw her in an emotional rollercoaster. She waits for another life changing phone call to end. And when it does, Ashlyn’s parents come out of their study, shiny smiles on their faces, hugging her tightly and welcoming her in their lives for the next semester as a constant.  
“Welcome to the family, Gina!” It’s what Ashlyn and EJ told her during dinner later that evening, when she announced that she was staying in Salt Lake City. It’s also what they wrote in the sign that was hanging in the entrance of EJ’s parents’ house days later. As if their guests weren’t only their closest friends (and their respective families, because the Caswell family doesn’t miss the chance to have a party with the house full) and didn’t already know why they were there.  
Despite the silliness of the situation, it makes Gina smile. She is part of that family now. 

Being part of the family also means that she is part host and therefore she has to make sure everyone is comfortable, asking if they have eaten anything, offering a drink, pointing the way to the bathroom and, unfortunately, welcoming people into the house and thanking them for their presence. 

Nini and Ricky arrive together, holding hands as usual, Nini’s moms trail behind with Ricky’s dad. She silently praises herself for keeping a straight face and a polite smile as she talks to them. 

Mr. Bowen tells her that it looks like she has grown since they last saw each other and Nini tells him that it’s probably because Gina’s wearing a high bun (complimenting her hairstyle in the middle of the sentence) and then adding that it’s not possible to a girl their age to grow more than half a inch in a month. 

“You’re one to talk about growth.” He scoffs and Gina holds back a laugh. Nini is smaller than most girls, skinnier (which is kind of a blessing in a world where wearing anything over than a 6 is enough to be ashamed) and shorter. “Petite” is what Gina’s mother would call it. 

“Dad!” It doesn’t go unnoticed by her the fact that both teenagers, and not just Ricky, call Mr. Bowen “dad”, and now she can no longer think of them as two separate families. 

“I’m sorry, Nini, darling, you’ve been the same height in almost a year. I couldn’t miss the joke.” He holds his hands up in a sign of innocence while Nini groans and presses her forehead against her boyfriend’s shoulder. 

“It was a little insensitive.” Nini complains.

“I think it’s charming that you’re so small.” Ricky contradicts.

“It not really practical, you know? I always need help to get things from the top shelves and that sort of stuff.”

“Good thing your boyfriend is tall and you both are attached at the hip.” One of Nini’s moms, the blond one that Gina assumes to be Carol chips in the conversation.

“You’re just jealous because we haven’t spend that much time all together.” Nini tries to defend them. 

“If you keep attacking us, we won’t want to hang out with you three, you know?” Ricky adds to his girlfriend statement. 

Gina isn’t sure if they’re actually complaining or just messing around, at least not until all of them are giggling softly. 

Mr. Bowen drags Nini into a side hug and Nini’s other mom, Dana, is doing the same with Ricky. 

“We just missed having you two around. Together.”  
Ricky clears his throat at the subtle mention of their breakup and starts walking away, ‘dragging’ his girlfriend with him. “Come on, Nins, let’s go greet everyone else.”

No one else has the chance to add another comment, and Gina does her best to keep her attention on the rest of the family that it’s still standing in the front porch. Carol walks forward and wraps her in a warm hug that reminds Gina of the way Nini hugged her during opening night. 

“We’re glad you’re staying, sweetie.” she says when they finally step out of the embrace.

Dana is hugging her a second later, thanking her for welcoming them at her home.

Mr. Bowen is the last one and she lets herself settle a while longer into the hug, because he’s Ricky’s dad and she’s known him for a while now, since Ricky first invited her to spend the afternoon at his house, and Mr. Bowen is nice and caring and always asks her about her life.

“So, do you wanna tell me about the move?” He asks gently, placing a hand on her shoulder to guide her back into the house. 

An hour after the party starts Gina, Ashlyn and EJ are cleared from “host duties”. The actual dinner would take a while to be served, so they lead all their friends to the home theater in the basement, arguing over what movie they’ll watch.

Half of the group wants to watch the first Mamma Mia! and the other half wants to watch the sixth Star Wars. It takes them almost 10 minutes before they settle for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with Carlos mumbling that “It wasn’t even an option”. Gina doesn’t mind, she really likes the soundtrack and she knows that everyone else does too (Carlos included), because there’s no way someone that likes music would dislike it. She also knows that it’s one of Ricky’s favorite movies, simply because of the car ‘flying’ out of the garage.

“This house actually exists, did you know?” he told her, the last time she went to his house, when they watched the movie together. When the scene starts, this time, she turns in her seat to look at him, waiting for him to comment on it, for the characteristic grin to take over his features. He is not talking about it, he’s not even smiling at the TV. He is tense with his eyes closed and pursed lips and concern washes over her until she notices the reason of the lack of positive reaction to the movie is Nini’s hand going up his tight as she leans over to whisper something for him. Gina resists the urge to roll her eyes and turns back to the TV, hoping that no one saw her looking at the couple in the first place.

She can hear them shifting positions and the muffled giggles that come from where they are and it bothers her immensely. She wants to tell them to shut up and pay attention to the movie, but she doesn’t. Instead she grits her teeth and adjusts her posture, her eyes still on the telly even though she is no longer watching the movie. Now she's focused in whatever in going on with the couple, curious to know what is going on.  
Gina regrets her decision of paying any attention to them very quickly. She can hear them kissing and breathing heavy and Nini faintly moaning his name and then Ricky is whispering few, rushed words that she can’t really identify. 

Suddenly, they stop and Gina is so relieved that it’s embarrassing. She had no intention, in the first place, of knowing what they would do. That same relief is quick to fade away as she hears them get up from the couch and tiptoe their way out of the room. She knows they’re sneaking out to make out without worrying if they’re being loud or annoying, and it’s kinda thoughtful but she hates the idea of them kissing around her house. 

She’s not sure if anyone notices them leaving and she surely won’t be the one to talk about it. So she just sits there, in silence, waiting for the stupid romantic comedy to end, ignoring the way her eyes fill with tears and her heart seems to be teared in a thousand pieces.


	3. sleepover

A week after the dinner party it’s Gina’s first time at Nini’s house. Unsurprisingly, there are pictures of Ricky everywhere. He’s in the digital picture frame in the living room, and in the portraits hanging in the hall and in half of the pictures behind Nini’s bed.

It’s her first sleepover (sleeping in Ashlyn’s bedroom apparently doesn’t count, because it’s her house too now) and she’s freaking out about the whole thing. She doesn’t know how to behave, nor what they’re supposed to do and she definitely feels out of place in between this girls that have known each other for years. Gina can see they’re making an effort to make her feel welcomed and included, and she is doing her best to actually feel that way, or at least convince them that she is.

“Should we braid each other’s hairs?” Gina asks absentmindedly while looking at Nini’s ukulele (it’s hand painted, with a pattern that vaguely reminds her of Tangled). “Is that what we’re supposed to do during sleepovers?”

“I mean… we can do it, but it’s not a mandatory sleepover ritual.” Nini smiles, and Gina wonders if the other girl is laughing at her for never having done this before. Probably not. But it doesn’t stop her from feeling embarrassed for asking. 

“Why do you have skateboards?” Ashlyn asks, turning over to Nini while holding one object in each hand.

“Nini likes to skate with Ricky.” Kourtney explains briefly. _‘Of course she does’_ is Gina’s only thought in the matter.

“Wow. I had no idea. Why don’t you ride to school with the boys?” Ashlyn seems actually interested in the story, Gina keeps wandering through the room.

“I used to. But then I went to YAC during freshman year and when I came back, Ricky and I were dating and the three of us would hang out all the time, and we just felt that the boys needed a ‘Nini free’ time.”

“Why did you come back?” Gina asks, now actually interested. Acting conservatories are usually very exclusive, people don’t just drop out to go back because they’re homesick. 

“From the YAC?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not my thing. I really love acting and singing, but it’s more of a hobbie. I don’t want a career in it.”

“Why not? Isn’t it the dream? ‘Do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life’, or something like that...” Gina makes quote signs with her hands as she speaks.

“I don’t want the pressure of a career in the industry to end up influencing how I feel about music.”

“I guess it kinda makes sense. In a weird way.” Ashlyn chips back into the conversation. 

Kourtney stays silent through the whole exchange, picking which nail polish she’ll be using. She has an unbothered expression, but Gina knows better than to believe that her friend doesn’t care, that expression is one that Gina sees in herself more often than not. It’s pure resignation, like she’s heard those things, refuted them and then realised it was pointless to argue. It’s what Gina looks like everytime she has to move away.

They bake cookies, following an old family recipe that Nini learned from her Lola when she was little. Ricky drops by to say hello, kisses Nini on the doorstep when he enters and takes a whole tray for himself as he exits. It reminds Gina of when she baked cookies solely for him and he said she was a talented baker. He only ate one cookie that time. Not that anyone is counting.

When Ashlyn and Nini finally fall asleep that night, Gina walks over to where Kourtney’s sitting at the couch and asks her why Nini not going to the YAC bothers her so much. 

“She has so much potential to become a star. It would be so easy for her.” She sounds almost bitter and the sound is so foreign to Gina, especially coming from her friend. Kourtney doesn’t get jealous, she’s too selfless to do that. “Nini is exactly the kind of girl this industry looks for. Talented, creative, kind, bubbly, pretty.” _Skinny… White passing…_ Those go without saying.

“She said it wouldn’t make her happy” Gina knows better than to deny what Kourtney is saying, she’s right in what she says, the chances of making it big are slim for black artists. Representation in the industry sucks. But Gina also knows that being successful isn’t a synonym for being happy and the latter is much more important.

“I heard it. A couple too many times, actually. It just seems dumb to me.”

“This is not exactly the time to be judgemental, Kourt.”

“If I wanted to make it big in this industry it would be so much harder than it would be for her. It’s not fair.”

“Do you wanna make it big in this industry?”

“I don’t know. Why should it matter, though? I don’t think I have a shot.”

“Well, if you ask me, I think you do. You have so much potential. You have one of the best voices in our year, and you’re so creative, you could also be writing your own songs and styling yourself.”

“Really?”

“Sure! You’re so talented, Kourt. And I know it doesn’t feel so obvious when you’re around High School Theatre stars like Nini and Ashlyn and-”

“And you.”

“No, not me. I’m just the understudy.”

“Don’t fool yourself, G. We all know that you’re the most talented. There isn’t a single thing you can’t do. It’s ok to admit that you’re the best out of us all.”

“If I was as great as you say, I would have gotten the part I wanted.”

“You know that’s not how casting works. You can’t just consider one’s talented, they have to fit the part.”

“Yeah. I know. My mother doesn’t, though.”

“Was she expecting something from you?”

“I played Annie on Broadway when I was little and think she is just waiting for me to land another role so I’ll be stuck in NY and forced to take care of myself, and she’ll be able do her job and travel around guilt free.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have your Annie performance on tape?”

“Bold of you to assume I would show it to you if I did.”

“It was worth a shot.” Kourtney shrugs.

They smile at each other and Gina feels so proud of herself. Bonding was her most dreaded experience, because it usually didn’t work out in her favour. But this time, she helped Kourtney and now they’re actually friends, no longer just cast mates. 

When she wakes up the next morning, there’s an easiness in their group that wasn’t there the night before. Gina suspects Nini and Kourtney talked things through because they’re both red eyed during breakfast, but they’re also looking much more content. They play Uno, blaring Ashlyn’s Spotify playlist as a background noise because, apparently, she’s the most eclectic amongst them. EJ shows up around noon to take them home, with Ricky, who had been on his way to Nini’s house already when EJ drove past him and offered a ride. 

As she’s about to walk out the door, Nini pulls her into a hug. It feels way less strained than the one they shared backstage, and Nini whispers a “thank you” in her ear, conforming her previous suspicion, before letting her go and rushing to Ricky’s side. He drops an arm around her shoulder like second nature and Gina pretends not to notice. Ashlyn cracks a joke about them spending the day alone in Nini’s house without her mom’s, and Gina ignores how neither of them denies it. 

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” EJ screams as he drives away.

“You have no boundaries, bro!” Ricky retorts.

“Lucky for you, then.” 

They drop Kourtney off at her house and then head over to EJ’s to have lunch. Gina spends almost half of the afternoon mastering the courage to ask him what he knows. She’s not even sure she wants to find out. Ashlyn asks for her. 

“They’ve been doing it for a while. I thought everyone knew.”

“Well, I didn’t. If Red did, he never mentioned anything.”

“Why would he? It’s not like you would be discussing your friends sex life during your dates.”

“You do have a point.” Ashlyn shrugs.

Gina just sits there, seemingly unbothered, pondering how could she be so naive after what she had heard the previous week. It’s typical high school behavior, not very different from her own, and still, she’s surprised. 

Later that day, Gina is in her room, reading The Big Book of Broadway just to pass time, when Ashlyn walks in and says they need to talk. They sit side by side on her bed, facing the white bedroom wall that hasn’t been decorated yet. Gina waits for the dreaded question to be asked. 

“I didn’t wanna say anything before, because I thought it was going to fade away.” She defends before Ashlyn opens her mouth to speak.

“It’s ok. You don’t have to tell me how you feel about our friends. I just came to talk because I thought that you needed someone to talk to. How long has this been going on?”

“Since Homecoming.”

“And you’ve been keeping it to yourself for all this time?”

“I thought he liked me back, you know? We were hanging out all the time and we even kissed once.”

“You kissed? When? _How?_ ” Ashlyn practically screams, sitting up on the bed. Gina shushs her and gestures for her to lie down again.

“You don’t actually want me to tell you how I kissed him, do you?” Gina asks and raise an eyebrow mockingly.

“Whatever. I want to hear details.”

“There isn’t much to tell. We became friends after homecoming, so we were hanging out a lot around October. One of those days, after a study session at his house, he walked me home and kissed me goodbye on the doorstep. I don’t even know how long we stayed outside just holding each other.”

“Wait… He made the first move?”

“Don’t you know me? I would never put myself out there and make myself that vulnerable for someone that’s around all the time. If he rejected me I would have been mortified.”

“But it was only one kiss? You were all over each other during thanksgiving break…”

“That’s the thing, he told me he wanted to take things slow because he wasn’t over Nini. So we were still warming up to the idea of going out. Mostly from his part.”

“And then you had to move and went full Edward Cullen on him.”

“Not how I would describe it.”

“You left and never answered his texts and calls, leaving him to wonder what had happened.”

“It’s not like I knew you would offer me a room at your house, Ash. I thought I was never coming back.”

“I know, Gi. It’s not your fault. But can you blame him for going back to Nini after you ignored him for two weeks straight?”

“I just thought he would take longer to move on. And he acts like nothing ever happened and like he never told me he wanted to get over her!”

“I know it makes you feel underappreciated that he got over it so quickly, especially because with his other relationship he couldn’t move on, but I think you forget that they had been together for a whole year and were best friends far before that, so when they broke up it was a lot of other factors aside of how they felt. It was tough for Kourtney, Big Red and all of their families as much as it was for the two of them. He didn’t just have to go through a breakup, but he had to do that without his best friend and part of his family.”

“I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but telling me how she always meant more to him than I did is not what I would call helpful.”

“I’m so sorry. I was just trying to tell you that he wasn’t just crushed about Nini, but also about the part she had played in his life for years. Do you understand that?”

“I’m not sure I do.”

“It’s not about how awesome her personality is, nor about her looks or her talent or anything like that. Is about how constant she’s been for him. That’s what he missed the most when they were apart. How familiar to him everything with her is. And just because he can’t love you like that right now, it doesn’t mean that he won’t ever be able to. You’re not unlovable, and you’re not less than Nini Salazar-Roberts in any aspect. Don’t ever let the fact that Ricky didn’t choose you make you think less of yourself.”

“Thanks Ashlyn. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear that until you said it.” Gina answers and she means it.

Gina Porter was done diminishing herself over some stupid boy.

She deserved good things.

She deserved better than Ricky Bowen.


End file.
